Trading Methane for Air
by Alan Beck
Summary: A normal day on Space Station November gets strange when they make first contact


Chief Petty Officer Ryan Briggs caught scan of a vessel approaching the station. He notifies Captain Steve Rawlings. "Vessel approaching Captain Rawlings Sir" He replies "What's the make and model Chief". Briggs replies "Wait on it Sir. The vessels are too far out of range to identify". Captain Rawlings wasn't concerned. His command, Space Station November, was a trading post on the outskirts of Commonwealth territory. The Commonwealth was a small independent group of planets in the Three Galaxies. They constantly had alien vessels coming and going. The station took a commission on every sale made on deck. They also did repairs on spacecraft for a fee. Since currency often was problematic, the station routinely took some form of barter in exchange for its services. Often times the vessels had new technology that would benefit the Commonwealth if acquired. So the station frequently took schematics from vessels as payment. The Captain would send any useful information he acquired back to Earth. It was a good post. The Chief and Captain had spent most of their careers fighting in the Human Candorian war. After the war had ended the Captain had petitioned to transfer to a quiet post to spend the twilight years of his career. He'd known the Chief since he'd been an Ensign and truth be told he was the only friend he had. They'd fought the entire war together so he'd requested and had gotten unit command to transfer Chief Briggs with him. Despite being at the edge of Commonwealth space the command was a relatively peaceful one. He'd sent plenty of new technology back to headquarters but he'd yet to acquire the Holy Grail of intelligence. . He'd yet to acquire the Holy Grail of space travel though. When man first journeyed to the stars they never thought they'd encounter as many alien life forms as they had. Now with all of the Commonwealth's worlds overpopulated and the centuries it took to terraform, habitable worlds were vitally necessary to man kinds continued expansion. However, all the habitable worlds were under the domain of other races and the Commonwealth was to weakened form the last war to fight. Chief rouses him from his musing. "Sir, I've got a reading but the craft isn't any make in our databases.

Warmaster Tacron had been chasing the alien Trin for close to a year. Her experiments had killed millions. Finally they had tracked her down on this station. They had been capturing communications from the station for over an hour trying to decipher their language. The computers said they had decoded it. He sends out a communication

The Chief says we've got com coming in. "War Master Tacron demands release of Trin or death". The Captain says "Raise shields and arm the cannons. How the hell is Trin?" The Chief says "she's that alien we caught who killed that merchant when she tried to steal his ship. She's slated for execution. These must be her friends."

Tacron sees the powering up their shields. He does likewise and prepares to fire. Just then his computer gives him a translation of what he said."

Tacron quickly sends a communication. Captain Rawlings, there has been a misunderstanding. We request Prisoner Trin be transferred to our authority to answer for the murder of a thousands of our people during medical experiments. She has been tried and found guilty. I've been ordered to transport her back to base for execution.

Captain Rawlings says "Stand by" and shuts off the communicator. "Ryan what do you think" "I believe him. Our intelligence reports say Trin's wanted by half a dozen different authorities. She's a different race than these aliens and they are clearly a military craft not some pirate vessel. How about we split the div? Tell the aliens they can come onboard to observe us execute her". Rawlings says "I agree." He turns the communication back on and says "Warmaster Tacron we have a proposition. We would like to invite you on board to observe the execution." Tacron replies "I welcome the invitation. Perhaps talks should proceed face to face. Rawlings agrees and Tacron transports aboard with several of his crew. Briggs and Rawlings greet Tacron at the hatch. They are all wearing space suits but are unarmed. Rawlings says "Welcome aboard the Space Station November. If you don't mind me asking "why are you wearing suits?" Tacron replies "Sorry, I didn't make it clear in our communications but our race breathes methane. We couldn't survive in your stations atmosphere." Rawlings leads them to a conference room. His men quickly find couches for their large guests. Tacron takes a seat and says we understand your position but unfortunately I am under orders to return the prisoner to base. My commander was quite clear about it. Would it be possible for you to accompany us to watch our executions? Rawlings considers for a moment. "That's a possibility. Could I ask, in your Republic's territory do you have uninhabited oxygen worlds?" Tacron replies "Of course. All the races in the republic breathe methane. Here let me download a map of an unused system that has some." He presents the star chart to Rawlings. The chart shows over two dozen worlds habitable worlds. Rawlings replies "I am authorized by the Commonwealth of Man to negotiate for any worlds suitable for human life. Is you leadership have enough authority to enter into talks?" Tacron replies "for some useless worlds they are".

Captain Rawlings says "Chief, tell the Lieutenant he's in charge me and you are going to get some worlds for the Commonwealth".


End file.
